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Can a plant-based diet prevent or even reverse chronic disease?

Dr Shireen Kassam

Consultant Haematologist, King’s College Hospital London and Visiting Professor of Plant-Based Nutrition, Winchester University

Founder, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK

Unhealthy diets are now the top cause of chronic disease globally. These unhealthy diets are commonly characterised by an inadequate consumption of whole-plant foods.

We are in the midst of a global epidemic of chronic disease. The incidence of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and dementia continues to rise despite the availability of better and more sophisticated medications and procedures.

Leading cause of disease is unhealthy diets

Unhealthy diets are now the top cause of chronic disease globally, characterised by the overconsumption of processed foods and meat and the under consumption of whole-plant foods; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. A recent study concluded that unhealthy diets cause 20% of all deaths globally (1).

Plant-based diets prevent chronic disease

Decades of scientific research has demonstrated that eating a predominately plant-based diet, whilst minimising animal-derived foods, is the best way to prevent chronic disease and can lead to a healthier, longer life (2). Vegans and vegetarians have the lowest rates of overweight and obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer (3). A healthy vegan diet, termed a whole food plant-based diet, is one of the best ways to eat. This type of diet is able to address the root cause of chronic disease as it is high in antioxidants and phytonutrients that act to counteract inflammation, the main driver of chronic disease.

The fibre in plants feed our healthy gut bacteria, which are crucial for promoting health, and along side the low fat content maintains favorable blood lipid levels, preventing fat from depositing in organs where it leads to malfunction (4).

Plant-based diets can reverse chronic disease

A low fat whole food plant-based diet is the only diet that has been shown to arrest and reverse artherosclerotic plaques in the heart arteries, responsible for causing heart attacks (5,6,7).

This way of eating can also reverse diabetes (8), fatty liver disease (9) and early stages of prostate cancer (10). The more plant-based the diet after a diagnosis of breast (11) and colon cancer (12), the better the chance of remission and survival.

Plant-based diets recommended by leading health organisations

Dietetic associations around the world have confirmed that a plant-based diet (vegan/vegetarian) is nutritionally optimal for all stages of human life (13).

International health organisations also recommend plant-based diets for disease prevention, including the American College of Cardiology (14) and the World Cancer Research Fund. Earlier this year, the EAT-Lancet commission published a large review of diet and its impact on health. It described the ‘planetary health diet’ as being optimal and it is one that is more than 85% plant-based with less than 15% of calories recommended from meat and dairy (15).

Saving millions of lives

The commission
estimates that a global shift to this type of diet could save 11 million lives
per year. This change in diet pattern is not only necessary for human health
but for the health and sustainability of the planet.

Best for human and planetary health

The World Organisation of Family Doctors has called health professionals to action to act upon planetary health because the effects of climate change are detrimental to human health. It’s declaration calls family physicians to help patients transition to a sustainable plant-based diet ‘rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes’. We can no longer ignore the impact of our diet choices on human and planetary health and the only sustainable solution is a whole food plant-based diet.